Pins — Bite-Sized Travel Facts

Did you know Samoa once skipped an entire day? To line up its calendar with trading partners Australia and New Zealand, the islands jumped straight from December 29 to December 31 in 2011, hopping across the International Date Line overnight. For everyone there, December 30 that year simply never existed.

Did you know New Zealand has a hill with an 85-letter name? Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is one of the longest place names on Earth. In Māori it roughly tells the story of Tamatea, a chief who played his flute to a lost love on that very hill.

Did you know sheep heavily outnumber people in New Zealand? There are roughly five sheep for every person — one of the highest ratios on the planet. It used to be over 20:1 in the 1980s, so by local standards the sheep are actually in decline.